(no subject)

[jinlingers]

Who: Jin Ling & OTA
Where: Various
When: throughout the month
What: Drinking in reference to this, although, people who didn't respond to the network are more than welcome
Warnings: alcohol


Jin Ling hadn't really been much of a drinker before. He'd rolled his eyes at the habits of some of the people around him and yet here he is seeking escape even if it only helps a little bit or only helps sometimes. At least there would be a moment of reprieve.

He gets ahold of drinks in various ways, in various places -- the kitchen, the garden carriage most often, and in his bunk. He could be found at any of them and will always take someone up if they offer him a drink.

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin darts off to his cabin to grab the bottle of wine he was saving, and then to the Dining Carriage to get some cups. And then he goes to the Garden Carriage to meet Jin Ling.

He walks into the door and sets the bottle and the cups on one of the stone benches, sits down, and waits for the young cultivator to arrive. He isn't sure if Jin Ling meant to bring some alcohol himself, but either way, they'll have something to drink.

[jinlingers]

Jin Ling shows up to the garden carriage shortly after, his dog Fairy trotting along after him. He does have some alcohol he's managed to get alcohol himself and he bows when he sees the other. Fairy goes to find some place nearby to take a nap.

"Hi."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin stands up and smiles at Jin Ling, and then he returns the bow in the same style. He smiles again when he sees Fairy looking for a place to nap. Cute dog!

"Hi, Jin Ling! Come sit down, and we'll start drinking the good stuff." He gestures to the space beside him on the bench. The bench is long enough to seat two people and leave room in the middle for two bottles of alchohol.

[jinlingers]

Fairy is certainly the cutest. She settles on a place and plops down her bells tinkling a little as she does.

"Mm," Jin Ling agrees and he moves to sit with the other on the bench. He's not the best at socializing still but he's trying to come out of his shell more and meeting someone to drink is in any case an improvement. He sets what he's come with down.

"I'm not sure how good it is."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin grins at Fairy, and if she gets close enough, he'll reach out and scratch her ears. Otherwise, he'll just smile.

He understands that Jin Ling is not confident of his ability to connect with others, but this doesn't trouble Curufin. He'll just give the kid as much help and encouragement as he can.

"Don't worry about how good it is. We'll drink it and enjoy it." He gestures to the two cups. "Want to pour?" Pouring the drinks is an honorable act, rather as it is when a person is the host, so he gives Jin Ling the chance to do it.

[jinlingers]

She'll come around soon enough for pets but for now, she's just going to relax and watch -- or nap.

Jin Ling nods, and he reaches to open a bottle and pour them both generous servings in the cups. "You would enjoy something even if it doesn't taste good?" he questions now.

[so_dark_a_road]

"I have a hard time imagining a bottle of liquor or wine that doesn't taste good. Where did you get it? From the train store?" Curufin picks up his cup and prepares to take a sip. "Anyway, if it really doesn't taste good, we can drink my bottle of red wine." He pats the wine bottle that is sitting on the bench between them.

"Anyway, how are you doing, Jin Ling?"

[jinlingers]

"I got it from someone," Jin Ling admits and then shrugs. They probably had gotten it from the store. How was he to know -- or care? In any case he takes a drink once the other has taken a drink and raises a brow.

"Is it special?" He questions but then hesitates at the question that had been posed him. It's a confusing one. He's still not completely sure how he's doing. He's struggling to connect, to stop his pining and grieving. It's wrong perhaps but there it is all the same.

"Ah... I'm doing alright," he says and then quickly adds. "I was able to retrieve my sword."

[so_dark_a_road]

"That was nice of them." Even if they had gotten it from the store.

"I bought the bottle we're drinking now from the train store, and the red wine is also from the store. I bought a couple of bottles of red wine to share with my cousin Fingon, but we barely had time to drink one bottle, and soon after that he was gone from the train. So I saved the second bottle, as it was pretty good and I thought somebody else might want some sooner or later."

He does have the feeling that Jin Ling isn't telling all. Curufin won't be insistent, but he does wonder.

"Good if you're all right. How did you get your sword back?"

[jinlingers]

Jin ling finds it easier to listen to people than talk himself. He's grown up ostracized, if spoiled, but regular conversations outside of his uncles were rare. He sips and makes no complaints of the taste after all. And at least... Curufin allows the change of subject easily. Jin Ling is trying to ignore the things that he can't get over since getting over them seems impossible and yet the most frequent thing he hears.

And getting Suihua is a big deal for him.

"The store," it's strange that is how it happens. This sword doesn't feel like something that should be bought and sold.

[so_dark_a_road]

Growing up ostracized and spoiled, now that is a thing Curufin would understand, having grown up with a conflicted family role himself. And the same with ignoring things he can't get over. Jin Ling and Curufin are very different people, and yet they have a few things in common.

"Oh, yes, the store. It is funny how it can get things for us from our own worlds. That's how I got my own sword back. How many points did the train charge you for your sword?" He doesn't think such things should be bought and sold either.

[jinlingers]

"80," Jin Ling says, furrowing his brow. It had taken him so long.

"Why do you think the train does that?"

Make them pay for things from home, why it doesn't just let them have such vital items when the come. It's strange to him.

[so_dark_a_road]

"It cost about the same for my sword," says Curufin. "I have no idea why the train does that. I think it would be better if it didn't charge us at all for items from our own worlds and lives. Especially weapons wielded by those of us who are warriors, considering how often we end up in fights on the missions."

It is strange to Curufin as well.

[jinlingers]

Jin Ling nods and well it's all one of the many things that doesn't make any sense at all. Most things don't after all!

"I feel like I don't understand the train any better now than when I first arrived."

[so_dark_a_road]

True, there are many things that don't make sense, here on the train, and in fact, anywhere else.

Curufin nods and takes another sip of the liquor. "The train makes itself mysterious. I've often wondered why. It does let slip a fact or two, occasionally, but most of the time it just lets us be mystified."

[jinlingers]

"There's little more frustrating," Jin Ling sighs and he takes a longer drink and glances toward Fairy who has seemed to fall asleep.

"Hell made more sense."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin glances towards Fairy with a smile, seeing the dog taking this opportunity to take a nap.

"What do you know about hell?" he asks. "It didn't exist in my universe, but apparently it does in others."

[jinlingers]

"It wasn't the sort of hell I would have known about... God and Satan, the sort of demons there, they weren't like the ones where I'm from," Jin Ling says, frowning. "It was a place of punishment where you go if you die and have sins to atone for... but I think sometimes people were there that shouldn't have been."

Sizhui should have never been there for example.

[so_dark_a_road]

"You have some experience of such a hell?" asks Curufin, with concern.

[jinlingers]

"Yes, that's where I was before I came to the train," Jin Ling says, sighing and then taking another large drink. He stares at Fairy, thinking about hell brought up a lot of what he's trying to escape.

[so_dark_a_road]

"You were in hell? How did you end up there?" Curufin can't imagine any justification for sending this young cultivator to hell. What could he be guilty of? Unless there is some way that people find their own way to that place, accidentally, unaware that it is hell before they step into it.

[jinlingers]

"I don't know," Jin Ling shrugs. "How did we end up here really?"

It's not like they really controlled any of it did they?

His hand idly went to his forearm where Wen Ning had helped him carve the word 'pride' into his skin. There's plenty of sins that had been on his list, though.

[so_dark_a_road]

"Hmmm. Good question. We just get snatched into other worlds, or in the train's case, onto strange vehicles. So, Hell is just another world that collects people, as it pleases?"

True, they don't control any of this.

Seeing Jin Ling's hand go to his forearm, Curufin asks, "Do you have an injury?"

[jinlingers]

"I guess so," Jin Ling says, it didn't portray itself that way but he thinks that it's probably more true than not.

Jin Ling's gaze goes down to his arm, covered by long sleeves as always.

"An old wound."

[so_dark_a_road]

Most of those worlds that kidnap people don't portray themselves as what they are. Curufin's been in a few, and that is what he's observed.

His gaze follows Jin Ling's. "How old is the wound? Does it still give you pain?"

[jinlingers]

"It's very old, maybe a year..." time is so strange. "It's not really pain so much as a reminder."

[so_dark_a_road]

"So it's healed and scarred over? And it's a reminder of something. . . difficult? Sorry if my questions seem intrusive. I just wondered." And his voice tones indicate concern.

[jinlingers]

"Mm," Jin Ling nods. "In hell, there were punishments that were very... they made you do things to get penance for your sins."

[so_dark_a_road]

"That sounds horrible," said Curufin. "I am glad you survived that place. But what sins could you even have committed? A young and courageous man like you, whose very profession is a virtuous one? Being a cultivator, that is."

[jinlingers]

Jin Ling snorts a little and he looks away from Curufin, taking a long drink before he answers. He then slowly pulls up his sleeve. It's the least embarrassing of his sins but it is the one on his skin. It clearly says pride, some of the lettering less steady than the latter half of the word.

"Anger, disrespecting my elders, envy, attempted murder were on my list as well."

[so_dark_a_road]

"PRIDE. I still can't wrap my head around the idea of this Hell place. I don't see the point of punishing people for their sins. It doesn't work. What does work is having people who care about them encourage them to change. And that's if the sins are even things that should be changed."

Curufin takes a drink as well.

"Let's drink up the bottles. I think it's the best we can do right now."

[jinlingers]

"Well, if you ask me it wasn't really about getting people to change," well that was the goal on paper but they all knew it was a lot more complicated than that.

"Mm," Jin Ling agrees and settles on that drinking quietly for a while.

Good place to wrap this thread?

[so_dark_a_road]

"Maybe this Hell place had no goal of getting people to change, but that's what should happen in any world in which there exists a real intention to create peace and unity, and to recruit everyone to that goal."

And he smiles at Jin Ling and pours himself another cup of wine, and joins the young cultivator in drinking quietly.